So this fight is next week, what are the thoughts on how it turns out?

Fitch is the solid favorite at the bookies, but I'm not sure. He surely won't be able to cuddle Maia to death, so will he sprawl n brawl? I recall his TDD looking distinctly shabby against bj. Or will he shoot on him and risk spending 3 rounds in the best guard in mma?

I feel like it’s going to be a usual affair with Fitch type fight. Strong top control. There might be some sub attempt from the bottom from Maia but I don’t see Fitch getting caught by a sub from the bottom.

Maia should work on footwork to make it hard for Fitch to take him down. Should work on his TDD in case Fitch gets a hold of him. And should work on sweep or getting back up in case he gets taken down. If he sees an opportunity to take Fitch down he should do it but it really has to be the right moment.

I feel like it’s going to be a usual affair with Fitch type fight. Strong top control. There might be some sub attempt from the bottom from Maia but I don’t see Fitch getting caught by a sub from the bottom.

Maia should work on footwork to make it hard for Fitch to take him down. Should work on his TDD in case Fitch gets a hold of him. And should work on sweep or getting back up in case he gets taken down. If he sees an opportunity to take Fitch down he should do it but it really has to be the right moment.

Yeah I struggle to see fitch getting tapped, but he does seem to get himself into some really bad situations. If silva an bj can take his back, Maia could catch him.

Don't think fitch has ever had to deal with a grappler of maia's quality. Will be fascinating to see what transpires. hopefully broke fitch comes out and he actually tries to finish demian

I feel like it’s going to be a usual affair with Fitch type fight. Strong top control. There might be some sub attempt from the bottom from Maia but I don’t see Fitch getting caught by a sub from the bottom.

Maia should work on footwork to make it hard for Fitch to take him down. Should work on his TDD in case Fitch gets a hold of him. And should work on sweep or getting back up in case he gets taken down. If he sees an opportunity to take Fitch down he should do it but it really has to be the right moment.

Maia's only shot is on the ground IMO. He might as well try to submit Fitch vs play a crappy stand up game. He's been looking good at 170.

I feel like it’s going to be a usual affair with Fitch type fight. Strong top control. There might be some sub attempt from the bottom from Maia but I don’t see Fitch getting caught by a sub from the bottom.

Maia should work on footwork to make it hard for Fitch to take him down. Should work on his TDD in case Fitch gets a hold of him. And should work on sweep or getting back up in case he gets taken down. If he sees an opportunity to take Fitch down he should do it but it really has to be the right moment.

Yeah I struggle to see fitch getting tapped, but he does seem to get himself into some really bad situations. If silva an bj can take his back, Maia could catch him.

Don't think fitch has ever had to deal with a grappler of maia's quality. Will be fascinating to see what transpires. hopefully broke fitch comes out and he actually tries to finish demian

Well, if Maia takes Fitchs’ back, I could see a possibility but he is notoriously hard to choke. But like you said I’d be curious to see what would happen.

Now if Maia is on BOTTOM, do you see Fitch getting caught in a sub? Maybe a sweep. Or he should try to get back up to feet. But a sub? From the bottom? I don’t see it.

I’m pumped for this fight but I also feel like this fight is too soon for Maia at WW. I know he has no trouble cutting the weight but I still feel like he needs one more tune up fight to get used to fighting at WW before facing top fighters like Fitch. Perhaps he should fight a lesser version of Fitch like Mike Pierce. Maia has cut down to WW from MW to get away from huge MW fighters. And for him to face big WW fighter like Fitch on his second WW fights…I don’t know..I feel bad for him.

I feel like it’s going to be a usual affair with Fitch type fight. Strong top control. There might be some sub attempt from the bottom from Maia but I don’t see Fitch getting caught by a sub from the bottom.

Maia should work on footwork to make it hard for Fitch to take him down. Should work on his TDD in case Fitch gets a hold of him. And should work on sweep or getting back up in case he gets taken down. If he sees an opportunity to take Fitch down he should do it but it really has to be the right moment.

Yeah I struggle to see fitch getting tapped, but he does seem to get himself into some really bad situations. If silva an bj can take his back, Maia could catch him.

Don't think fitch has ever had to deal with a grappler of maia's quality. Will be fascinating to see what transpires. hopefully broke fitch comes out and he actually tries to finish demian

Well, if Maia takes Fitchs’ back, I could see a possibility but he is notoriously hard to choke. But like you said I’d be curious to see what would happen.

Now if Maia is on BOTTOM, do you see Fitch getting caught in a sub? Maybe a sweep. Or he should try to get back up to feet. But a sub? From the bottom? I don’t see it.

I’m pumped for this fight but I also feel like this fight is too soon for Maia at WW. I know he has no trouble cutting the weight but I still feel like he needs one more tune up fight to get used to fighting at WW before facing top fighters like Fitch. Perhaps he should fight a lesser version of Fitch like Mike Pierce. Maia has cut down to WW from MW to get away from huge MW fighters. And for him to face big WW fighter like Fitch on his second WW fights…I don’t know..I feel bad for him.

I’m still looking forward to the fight though.

Yeah I think maia's best bet might be to sweep fitch. Maybe from half guard.then attack from top. He's gonna be hard to tap from guard.

Kinda disagree about the size thing tho, I think Maia cut down mainly because he wasn't gonna get another title shot at 85. I can't ever really recall him getting outmuscled

I feel like it’s going to be a usual affair with Fitch type fight. Strong top control. There might be some sub attempt from the bottom from Maia but I don’t see Fitch getting caught by a sub from the bottom.

Maia should work on footwork to make it hard for Fitch to take him down. Should work on his TDD in case Fitch gets a hold of him. And should work on sweep or getting back up in case he gets taken down. If he sees an opportunity to take Fitch down he should do it but it really has to be the right moment.

I see what you're saying, but I say Maia should stay with his bread and butter. He can submit John and it's not a remote possibility.

I feel like it’s going to be a usual affair with Fitch type fight. Strong top control. There might be some sub attempt from the bottom from Maia but I don’t see Fitch getting caught by a sub from the bottom.

Maia should work on footwork to make it hard for Fitch to take him down. Should work on his TDD in case Fitch gets a hold of him. And should work on sweep or getting back up in case he gets taken down. If he sees an opportunity to take Fitch down he should do it but it really has to be the right moment.

Yeah I struggle to see fitch getting tapped, but he does seem to get himself into some really bad situations. If silva an bj can take his back, Maia could catch him.

Don't think fitch has ever had to deal with a grappler of maia's quality. Will be fascinating to see what transpires. hopefully broke fitch comes out and he actually tries to finish demian

Well, if Maia takes Fitchs’ back, I could see a possibility but he is notoriously hard to choke. But like you said I’d be curious to see what would happen.

Now if Maia is on BOTTOM, do you see Fitch getting caught in a sub? Maybe a sweep. Or he should try to get back up to feet. But a sub? From the bottom? I don’t see it.

I’m pumped for this fight but I also feel like this fight is too soon for Maia at WW. I know he has no trouble cutting the weight but I still feel like he needs one more tune up fight to get used to fighting at WW before facing top fighters like Fitch. Perhaps he should fight a lesser version of Fitch like Mike Pierce. Maia has cut down to WW from MW to get away from huge MW fighters. And for him to face big WW fighter like Fitch on his second WW fights…I don’t know..I feel bad for him.

I’m still looking forward to the fight though.

Yeah I think maia's best bet might be to sweep fitch. Maybe from half guard.then attack from top. He's gonna be hard to tap from guard.

Kinda disagree about the size thing tho, I think Maia cut down mainly because he wasn't gonna get another title shot at 85. I can't ever really recall him getting outmuscled

Well I felt like he was outmuscled in his fight with Munoz. I also think Weidman, if he didn’t have to lose weight in a short amount of time since it was a short-notice fight, would have outmuscled Maia considering that Weidman out-wrestled Munoz. Guys like Tim Boetsch and Okami would no doubt have out wrestled him as well. I forgot which interview (probably the one with Ariel Helwani) but he did mention that he felt relieved that he didn’t have to fight those bigger guys and that he should have done it long time ago.

That is why I wish his fight with Dong Kim didn’t end up like that. It’s a legit win for sure. It’s a testament to Maia’s grappling skills that he was able to do that to Kim but it’s also a fluke in a way. If that didn’t happen, I would have loved to see how the fight unfolded.

But probably another reason is that he can still go for title shot at WW like you said.

Demian will be bigger as well. Hes a full package fighter now, His striking has COMPLETELY evolved for battle and now that hes at ww i dont even think brokest fitch can stop him, then again... hes fighting

Have people already forgot how EASILY Maia completely ragdolled and submitted Rick Story who is a very big, strong welterweight with high level grappling and who had never been submitted before in his 19 pro fights?

NorthFromHere - Have people already forgot how EASILY Maia completely ragdolled and submitted Rick Story who is a very big, strong welterweight with high level grappling and who had never been submitted before in his 19 pro fights?

You have a point but I also remember Rick Story being controlled by Kampmann-a striker. He was also out wrestled by John Hathaway long time ago.

I’m pulling for Maia though. Wait, but I also liked Fitch’s gutsy performance against Silva…

NorthFromHere - Have people already forgot how EASILY Maia completely ragdolled and submitted Rick Story who is a very big, strong welterweight with high level grappling and who had never been submitted before in his 19 pro fights?

I remember. He made me money in that fight. But fitch is a big, big step up from story

NorthFromHere - Have people already forgot how EASILY Maia completely ragdolled and submitted Rick Story who is a very big, strong welterweight with high level grappling and who had never been submitted before in his 19 pro fights?

I remember. He made me money in that fight. But fitch is a big, big step up from story

How so? Story has wins over Hendricks and Alves. Alves is Fitch's biggest win too. In his more recent fights Fitch got manhandled by BJ for two rounds and then put to coma by Hendricks.

NorthFromHere - Have people already forgot how EASILY Maia completely ragdolled and submitted Rick Story who is a very big, strong welterweight with high level grappling and who had never been submitted before in his 19 pro fights?

I remember. He made me money in that fight. But fitch is a big, big step up from story

How so? Story has wins over Hendricks and Alves. Alves is Fitch's biggest win too. In his more recent fights Fitch got manhandled by BJ for two rounds and then put to coma by Hendricks.

That is a good point. But stylistically, I think fitch is tougher. He is a legit black belt with some of the best sub defense in the game. He's pretty much made a career out of sitting in people's guards and not getting caught.

Even against bj, he got taken down, gave up his back, escaped, got back on top, GNP. At the end of the fight bj was a broken man. I want to say Maia takes it, but man fitch is such a tough dude.

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